chris singleton

Giving some thought to buying one of these and the Mrs has given it a big thumbs up.

Seen a nice 4.4sport on a y-reg with only 25K miles, full BMWSH all the toys, leather, etc for £17,995 from a dealer with 1 year warranty (albeit not BMW so warranty is probably worth sod all). Is there anything in specific to look out for on these, any known faults? Would I be better off spending a bit more for a face lift model?

I know that if buying one I will immediatley become a typical BMW driving **** but it still appeals. After 8 years of driving "performance cars" I'm thinking a bit of luxury would be nice plus I'd probably keep the RA for weekend fun

As usual, any thoughts comments much appreciated

Chris

TopBanana

A 540 touring would be a just as luxurious and spacious, and have better performance and handling.

Vapid

Indeed but you can't avoid the fact that these V8 petrol X5's are starting to look cheap if you need 4 wheel drive or want to tow. The 4.4 is a reliable unit, the main weakness on these is the auto box.

Obviously there's the dire image problem far worse than any other BMW but if I wanted one it wouldn't bother me.

I had the 4.8 as a courtesy car from my friendly local dealer and it shifted for such a huge lump. Felt a lot more unwieldy than a 5 touring however.

Overall in the price range there's little else other than a Landcruiser which is a different animal altogether.

C_B_B

I've driven one in the last couple of months. It did feel dated. Still it is a lot of car for £18,000.

There's a face lifted on out soon, so you may see the older ones fall in value.

stilover

£18k does sound very cheap. You sure it only has 25k miles on it?

I like the X5, and no doubt Audilover will be along shortly to call you lots of names (all not nice ones). I'd though about getting one, but I'd probably go for the 3.0D model.
Some people will bang on about the 5 series touring being a better car, but a RS6 is a better car than the 5 series, so their argument is pants.

If the X5 is as you say it is, then go for it. MPG will be pretty poor (just like a Scoob) but as long as it's a decent spec/colour than it should be a good car.

STIlover

PS. Don't worry about being labeled a Tw@t. We've been calling you a Tw@t for ages, so it won't make any difference

Luan Pra bang

They are great for a while but a pain when the bills come in. Every non bmw garage puts the wrong size tyres on as somtimes the tyres are different sizes on the front and back. One tyre from BMW is over 250 quid and its not like other 4x4's where they last for ages. 1k per year on tyres will start to **** you off. If you buy it check it has the correct Michelin tyres on. If you get the brakes changed the light stays on until BMW reset the ecu which they charge for. Air bag lights and engine management lights come on for no reason and its £45 for BMW to reset them. It is however the nicest to drive 4*4 I have driven and the best motoway car I have had especially on rainy days. I went from a scoob to a 51 X5 4.4 then went a got a subaru again after less than a year. It was great to start with but then the novelty wears off and the MPG, image, Lack of handling, crap dealers and stupidly high bills start to grate. The 7 series offers most of the benefits with less of the draw backs.

TyPe~~R

O God, dont mention the anti anything unless its an audi, audilover. He's bound to spam this thread with his rubbish anytime soon lol.

chris singleton

Cheers for the comments guys.

Not really bothered about mpg, coming from a 550bhp skyline most cars are going to be quite frugal in comparison

Not interested in the 5 series as the Mrs fancies a 4X4 Jeep.

The add definately says 25,500 miles, I doubt the commar is in the wrong place and it's done 255K but you never know Browsing the trader it does seem to be about 2K under value which is nice.

PMSL at the **** comment, cheeky ******

Wouldn't be doing huge mileage so hopefully tyres, serviving, etc wouldn't be too horendous although I know first hand that the majority of BMW dealers are ***** having tagged along with my friend when he bought an M3.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Oh come on, I have done my bit to mediate in X5 vs **** threads, they arent that bad, however I saw two of them in the disabled bays at Altrincham retail park the other day, the owners didnt look very disabled or have a badge to that effect, the 'go on dare to say something look' I got of the owner of the 4.8 is was priceless.

That I am afraid is why an otherwise decent car has now got a massive image problem.

AudiLover

The X5's towing capacity is crap actaully. If my memory serves me right a audi A6 can tow quite a bit more.

People think SUV's are safer than cars....but thats not quite true. Anyway go ahead and buy one. You will learn from your mistake. (especially when its value sinks like a stone )

stilover

Why don't you go out and buy an Audi?

Audi this, Audi that. You drive a ******* Volvo. Now there is a mistake.

ScooByer Trade

Hi Chris, did you consider a Toyota L/C 4.2 Vx ( UK car not import )?. My dad bought one of these 16 years ago for £18,000 and in that time lost £12,000 of value ( not alot compared to other 4x4's ). It's true when i say the body panels will fall to the ground before the engine lets go ( all will do 500,000 mls, fully maintained of course ). It's built like a truck, not a car too so everything is beefed up to cope with very rough terrain. Hope this helps Nathan.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Nowt wrong with Volvo's, damn good cars, instead of an X5 a V70 would probably do the job as well as anything, you say you need ground clearance, is that compared to something sporty that wont get over speed humps or a normal car ?

I remember smugly piloting our ML320 in Anglessey through to a beach down a really lumpy pathm,marvelling at the 4wd traction and the benefits of the extra ground clearance, got to the 'car park' feeling all smug at having a 4wd drive and the next car to arrive was a Peugeot 405 estate that had traversed the same path !

We have a Sharan (well my wife does), that has pretty much the same ground clearance as most modern four wheel drives.

AudiLover

Its coming soon

I had to make sacrificies in life hence my volvo ownership (still good cars though), as I unlike others dont run out for a loan everytime I see something I like which I cant afford.

stilover

What have you ordered? A2?

sti-04!!

91 Audi 80

AudiLover

Already had one of those odd 12 yrs ago actually

I got some nice pics of a S8 from the audi dealer today though

Scooby-Doo

Are the pictures for your sticker book little boy ?